Tangled (2010)

Tangled is a computer-animated movie produced by Walt Disney Pictures. Original titles were Rapunzel, as the original German fairy tale Rapunzel by Brothers Grimm. They changed the titles as the marketing strategy. Eventhough the changing title caused critics, but it seems the marketing strategy is working.


The story is about the magically long-haired Rapunzel has spent her entire life in a tower, but now that a runaway thief has stumbled upon her, she is about to discover the world for the first time, and who she really is.(imdb)

The Kids Are All Right (2010)

In LA, Nic and Jules are a couple with a daughter, Joni, on her way to college and a son, Laser, at 15 a good athlete but maybe hanging out with the wrong pal. Laser wants Joni, who's now 18, to find out who their biological father is - a sperm donor. Without initially telling their moms, they meet him. He's Paul, a cool guy with a motorcycle, a restaurant, and an organic garden. Although Nic doesn't like the idea, the five of them get together a few times and the kids spend time with Paul. He hires Jules, who's had many brief vocations, to landscape his back yard, and Nic, who's an OB/GYN, decides to be a good sport and get to know Paul better. Can a family add a new member?(imdb)

This movie almost completes my task to see the 2010 Oscar nominee movies. This one might be the most unique family movies I have ever seen, because it is included a two women as a parent. But to me it is just a different outer skin but same content inside.

It's refreshing to see Mia Wasikowska not doing her Alice In Wonderland, being just a normal teenager. Mark Ruffalo doing a great job being a long lost father a.k.a sperm donor. It is interesting to see the comparison from his thing to jump to right to his profession rather than take college with the family that think the opposite. But Annette Bening is pretty much being the best deep impression in this movie. I could feel her strong character as the head of the family and in the couple.

127 Hours (2010)

It was just a matter of time for me to put the movie in this blog. I was afraid that it's going to be surviving movie that focused on the pain leading to frustration in the end making the viewers depressed, much like Into The Wild's pitied story. As I read that the director, Danny Boyle, has directed Slumdog Millionaire, no wonder it has the same fast paced time movie and not at all boring.
 
127 Hours is the true story of mountain climber Aron Ralston's remarkable adventure to save himself after a fallen boulder crashes on his arm and traps him in an isolated canyon in Utah. Over the next five days Ralston examines his life and survives the elements to finally discover he has the courage and the wherewithal to extricate himself by any means necessary, scale a 65 foot wall and hike over eight miles before he can be rescued. Throughout his journey, Ralston recalls friends, lovers, family, and the two hikers he met before his accident.

The King's Speech (2010)

Like any other movies that has been nominated in prestigious awards, this movie has been on my watch-list. Fortunately, I don't have the opportunity to read other reviews about The King's Speech. I've discovered that reading other review might give you high expectation but still it's you to decide what's good and what is not. But still, you can sense whether the movie have depth or not from the director, the cast, the movie title and the poster.

The story : Biopic about England's King George VI (father of present day Queen Elizabeth II) and his lifelong struggle to overcome his speech impediment. Suffering from a stammer from the age of 4 or 5, the young Prince Albert dreaded any public speaking engagement and history records that his speech at the closing of the 1925 Commonwealth exhibition in London was difficult for both him and everyone listening that day. He tried many different therapies over many years but it was only when he met Lionel Logue, a speech therapist, that he truly began to make progress. Logue did not have a medical degree but had worked as an elocution coach in the theater and had worked with shell-shocked soldiers after World War I. Through a variety of techniques - and much hard work - he learns to speak in such a way so as to make his impediment a minor problem and delivers a faultless speech heard around the world by radio when England declared war on Nazi Germany in 1939. The King and Logue remained lifelong friends.(imdb.com)

The Fighter (2010)

I for one, not a fan of boxing. If there's nothing on television and I'm on the state of boredom, I will watch it and maybe even liked it eventually. But it's not my favorite type of TV program or sport. One thing that made me drawn to The Fighter first of all, is the depth feeling of the poster, as I use in the left. And so I heard that the movie got nominated in 7 categories in Oscars. I was not going to let my subjectivity in boxing made me pass the movie, of course I have to see it.

The Fighter, is a drama about boxer "Irish" Micky Ward's unlikely road to the world light welterweight title. His Rocky-like rise was shepherded by half-brother Dicky, a boxer-turned-trainer who rebounded in life after nearly being KO'd by drugs and crime. (imdb.com)

The movie felt like a winner, because it portrays a definite contrast between the basis of older and younger brother treatment from their mother and how Mark Wahlberg, who plays Micky Ward, after feeling down by losing 7 times tries to get back in the game. Micky was managed by his mother and trained by his former great boxer brother, Dicky.

Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)

To tell you the truth these days wasn't the best of my Happy-Go-Lucky days. Sure I took a holiday and glad I took it. They keep you from being stressed out. But holiday wasn't a solution, it's just a getaway, a little escape. It doesn't end your problems. Just a few days pause from your regular life.

Certain events are in my agenda. And from the holidays to the unpleasant regular days, I took it hard. There were a lot of judgements, hidden and unresolved feelings and pressures. I thought, 'wow I sure have one hectic life!' And I miss the old happy me. But in the middle of my mind trip I realize I was missing the best part of everything, to feel gratitude for my life that I had. Not everyone is as lucky.

I remembered I had this movie on my movie watch list. I'm glad I watched it now. I owe it a lot to make me feel better. Read the plot here.

Black Swan (2010)

Ballet and Natalie Portman, two attractive things that made me want to watch this movie so much. I'm glad I open the year watching this movie. When I was a little girl, I use to read a comic book about little ballerina called Mari-Chan. The comic was funny but also taught a lot about competition. In those comics I also knew about Swan Lake and her twin sister, Black Swan, and that hard 32-turns (fouettés en tournant) of it's role. Not that the book has any comparison with the movie other than ballet, but hey, most little girls wished she could be a ballerina ^^.

Black Swan is a 2010 American film directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel, and Mila Kunis. Variously described as a psychological thriller or a psychological horror film, its plot revolves around a production of Swan Lake by a prestigious New York City ballet company. The production requires a ballerina to play both the innocent White Swan and the sensual Black Swan. One dancer, Nina (Portman), is a perfect fit for the White Swan, while Lily (Kunis) has a personality that matches the Black Swan. When the two compete for the parts, Nina finds a dark side to herself. (wikipedia)

Shawshank Redemption (1994)

How many of you have not watch Forrest Gump yet? I figured not much, except you who was born in 1994. I never put Forrest Gump in the blog because I know everybody knows it. I still love it 'til now. Tom Hanks was remarkable. They probably want to make the remake of it by now.

Read the plot summary here.


I read that Shawshank Redemption was out in theater in the same year with Forrest Gump, and was less popular. Oscars somehow loved Forrest Gump more, the movie grab many awards from many nominations, including from Shawshank Redemption (SR). But SR now is the number one movie in IMDB's Top 250 movies ever. It's been calculated from 500.000 votes, while Forrest Gump is number 34 (The result could change depend on votes). There were a lot of other linkages from both movies. Tom Hanks was even considered to play as Andy, but turn it down because he was committed to Forrest Gump. Read more here.

RACHEL GETTING MARRIED (2008)

When I re-watch Penelope and wrote it here, I was actually trying to find Rachel Getting Married.  I wanted to see it because I saw the movie in the cable tv and I thought it was intense. Then I forgot about it until I found it on my sister's room. But I got to admit, I was not feeling well when I watch it. As the result, I felt an emotional rollercoaster. I also felt the wedding party night scene is too long.



I saw Kym's (played by Anne Hathaway) struggling to be accepted in her family after being in and out of rehab. She faced several rejections as she attend her sister's wedding preparation. As the story goes, the problem in the family got discovered and more complex. Kym's presence makes things awkward even though the family try to be open for her. There is also jealousy of father's attention, unresolved anger and feelings buried in the past is exploding just before the wedding.

THE TALENTED MR.RIPLEY (1999)

I can't really explain why I wanted to see this movie. All I know is when I went to look for movies, I look for it and the sales guy gave me a collection of Matt Damon's movies. Although I also wanted to watch 'Invictus' and 'The Informant', but I sensed that this movie is worth to watch first.

The Talented Mr. Ripley is a 1999 American psychological thriller written and directed by Anthony Minghella. It is an adaptation of the Patricia Highsmith 1955 novel of the same name, which was previously filmed as Plein Soleil (Full Sun, 1960).
 
The film stars Matt Damon as Tom Ripley, Gwyneth Paltrow as Marge Sherwood, Jude Law as Dickie Greenleaf, Cate Blanchett as Meredith Logue (a character created for the film), Philip Seymour Hoffman as Freddie Miles, Jack Davenport as Peter Smith-Kingsley (a character expanded for the film), James Rebhorn as Herbert Greenleaf, Celia Weston as Aunt Joan, and Ivano Marescotti as Colonnello Verrecchia.

PIECES OF APRIL (2003)

Honestly, I never thought the movie will end up in my blog. Lately it's been so rainy that I end up getting sick and overwhelmed with my daily life. So I was not ready to watch a heavy and lots-of-thinking kind of movie (there were some movie I bought, but I end up ignoring them). I am ready to watch Family genre movie. I was seeing an article in imdb.com about Best Fall movies. There's no fall here, but it feels gloomy with a lot of rain. One of the list is Pieces of April. I remembered my sister bought it when it first came out. I never saw it, I have to admit I kind of underestimated it.

Back in 2003, Katie Holmes was still linked a lot to Dawson's Creek, which she plays Joey, a struggling smart girl who ends up in love with her childhood friend. Back then I thought Katie Holmes can only play related kind of character of Joey. Maybe if I saw this movie in 2003, I would say 'Eh, she's still Joey.' Now, it doesn't matter. I just think the movie has a lot of values.

DRIVING MISS DAISY (1989)

Driving Miss Daisy is a 1989 American comedy-drama film adapted from the Alfred Uhry play of the same title for Warner Bros. The film was directed by Bruce Beresford with Morgan Freeman reprising Hoke's role and Jessica Tandy playing Miss Daisy. The story defines Daisy and her point of view through a network of relationships and emotions by focusing on her home life, synagogue, friends, family, fears, and concerns. Hoke is rarely seen out of Miss Daisy's presence, although the title implies that the story is told from his perspective.(wikipedia)

THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS (2006) : Struggling Father

Chris Gardner is a husband, a devoted father of one child, and a desperate bone-density scanner salesman. He strive to make things altogether when things fall apart. His wife left him, nobody wanted to buy his product, no money to pay rent or anything and a child to take care. As he pull stuff so hard to survive, he apply himself an stockbroker internship.

LOST IN TRANSLATION (2003)

Bob Harris (Bill Murray) and Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) are two Americans in Tokyo. Bob is a movie star in town to shoot a whiskey commercial, while Charlotte is a young recent graduate woman tagging along her workaholic photographer husband.